CHOLSAN, North Korea/SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has readied a rocket for a launch from a forested valley in its remote northwest this week that will showcase the reclusive state’s ability to fire a missile with the capacity to hit the continental United States.

Pyongyang says the rocket, to be launched this week, will only carry a weather satellite, but South Korea and the United States say it is a test of a ballistic missile. And although the risk of it veering off course is low, guidance remains its weakest point.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Vendors at the local market in Beijing could be forgiven for thinking that Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping run a restaurant. But the bags stuffed full of vegetables the brothers lug back home are used for a very different purpose — musical instruments.

The two grew up surrounded by vegetables in China’s central Anhui province, but their music teacher father encouraged them to learn conventional instruments from a young age. As teenagers, they joined a local theatrical troupe.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Punching, kicking and having bottles smashed on her head are standard daily fare for Sun Yiyao as she pursues her dream of becoming a bodyguard.

The 22-year-old is one of a small, select group of Chinese women training to become protectors for wealthy businesswomen and their families as demand grows steadily in the face of a widening wealth gap, which makes safety a prime concern for some of China’s richest citizens.

EDINBURGH (Reuters) – A pair of pampered giant pandas arrived in Scotland Sunday to a reception of cheering and flag-waving crowds while British officials said the 10-year loan of the bears by China strengthened ties between the two countries.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang — whose names in English are Sweetie and Sunshine — arrived at Edinburgh airport after flying in from Chengdu, Sichuan province, and were later greeted at Edinburgh zoo by around 450 people waving Chinese and Scottish flags.

What drives a miner to work in one of China’s notoriously dangerous pits, where 3,000 people were killed in 2008 alone?”We all know mining is dangerous, but what can we do?” Li Liangcang, a farmer form eastern China, asked me in his tiny rented miner’s house in the country’s frozen north. “I’m not young any more – 37 or 38 – and it’s too late to learn a skill. It’s not a question of choice. you have a family that depends on you. If you don’t do this job, what else can you do?”For his 56-year-old friend Zhu Xiuli, it’s a similar story.But then what would their families do without them? To see a Reuters report on the relatives of men killed in a recent blast at the nearby Xinxing mine click herePhoto credit: Jason Lee